Picturesinthefirelight

Cross post

The full casting breakdown & requirements for all roles were in last weeks stage and are on the notapushymum website if anyone is interested. Verrucas is under 4ft 8 & at least grade 4 ballet.

I'm wondering whether it is appropriate for me to remain on this forum especially as the new term starts next month and audition season starts Although in a lot of ways I am just the mum of a dd who loves to sing act and dance the fact remains that come September my dh will be teaching some of your dc and may have already done so at his previous colleges and I have to be so careful what I say. I will probably lurk around but will stay off certain threads.

Happy birthday us actually a really useful thing to sing. Dh uses it a lot as a technical exercise to teach different voice qualities. He can tell a lot from someone singing happy birthday.

Is some of this a cultural thing. Anjuli are you from the US or a country where classes continue through the summer? That's not the norm in the UK. Residential summer schools are not an option for most (dd commuted 1 hour a day each way for hers) and most other summer classes available are fun choreography only or musical theatre based ones ( show in a week type thing) At dd's dance school the children are expected to practice at home.

But unless your child is able to go to a residential summer school for a week there are no summer classes. Dance schools here close down mid July and reopen in September. Dd needs to work on her flexibility - for example -there is little time to fi more than the very basics in her weekly classes plus a 6 week break as well. Am thinking if finding a recreational gymnastics class to help but that's another story.

So students who have no access to classes through the summer can't work on anything? I would have thought it would be useful to be able to keep up over the summer.

You can buy square tiles to practice tap on. They used to be in the IDS catalogue but I just looked on their website and I can't find them.

I think for the dance course it's more about the ability to give the singing a go and the potential to act through a song ad you also have to act through dance If someone is unwilling to sing all they will find the common 1st year difficult. It's all a bit new and everyone will have a clearer idea of how it will all work once the new academic year starts.

Dd hasn't auditioned for this as for one thing we can't afford it but I agree about the age range. A student of mine auditioned for a pro panto as the very youngest in the age group but as she is tall for her age she felt she was being judged by the standards of the older dancers She didnt get in even though she had been given a place the previous year when she auditioned with the lower age group.

My dd "can't do street dance" and has only ever attempted it once before in a panto audition abut I actually think it was her strongest dance today. Very proud. They were all great. Knew the tutting she did for fun at stagecoach would come in handy one day!

Ive always been quite Pleased that dd has not rushed through the grades. She took her Grade 1 when she was just 8 ( as the oldest in her school year most of her friends in the same class were still 7 and she took her Grade 2 18 months later when she was 9. She is at a summer school this week and she says that everyone in her group of 9 & 10 year olds is either about to take or has taken Grade 4. Dd is 11 in the autumn and hasn't taken grade 3 yet. They started the new syllabus last term do I'm guessing will take the exam sometime next a academic year. I asked her if she felt she was keeping up and she thinks she is. Is this quite low for her age (she began ballet at 4) or is it just a case of different teachers doing things differently. The seniors who have just left to go to Uni have just taken adv 1 exams so I guess this is the stage they aim them to get to by 18.

I've been on holiday with minimal internet access via my phone so couldn;t post this before but I feel that this blog (based in a speech at prize givingthat the headteacher of the academically selective school my children will probably go to) is relevant to the discussion. Overschooled but undereducated? Questioning the purposes of education is an age-old business but we should never become complacent and think that we have finally got it just right. After all, the basic function of education in all societies is surely to prepare young people for the kind of adult life which that society values and wishes to perpetuate. As society evolves, so must our educational goals, although the values that underpin them remain constant. I recently received a briefing paper about a book to be published in November called Overschooled but Undereducated. There is something about the title which immediately resonates. In the paper, which is incidentally addressed to the government and our MPs, there are a number of very challenging questions which all of us should consider, whether we are educators, pupils, parents or governors. But there was one question which caught my eye. Why are those aspects of schooling that children enjoy most called extra-curricular, as if they don't matter so much and are only informally offered? You will see from my previous postings that this has been a theme of mine recently. League tables have been produced in abundance as usual at this time of year by most of our daily newspapers but what do they show? They by and large show academic achievement. And x School has risen up the league in most cases. Does that mean that we are better than we were last year? We all celebrate the academic achievement of all our pupils. These grades are the product of great endeavour and relentlessly focused teaching. But they are not the full picture. They are not even half the picture. Yesterday I made a visit to our Lower 6th formers who are on a two day team-building visit to Ambleside. I witnessed our young people in a new environment, engaging in tasks which were both demanding and challenging. They were constantly being put into new groups, adjusting to the dynamics, having to both lead and be led, having to listen and offer opinions, having to show both creativity and initiative. There is no league table for these pursuits but these are the skills which, coupled with their academic grades, will launch our pupils into the world with resilience and confidence. One of the other questions asked by the think-tank was why, in a country with a fully funded public education system, do some 7% of pupils on average attend independent fee-paying schools? Of course there are plenty of good answers to this question, not least the fact that your child is guaranteed an education in which high achievement is valued and respected by the pupils themselves. But also at x we have the vision, resources and staff commitment to ensure that our school does not divide into curricular and extra-curricular. And we will continue to be uncompromising in what we offer and what we expect pupils to get involved in outside the classroom.

The other side is that it's all very well having arched feet (other mums at dance rave over dd's beautifully high instep- hell to find school shoes though) but she will never be one of the elite dancers.

Window cleaner?

It's the opposite at dd's dance school. Lilac (grade 1&2) or navy (grade 3+) leotard for ballet and black leotard and footless tights for tap & modern. I just wondered if they were going for a bright colourful look for the end of week show. First time she has done anything like this. Previous summer schools have been musical theatre where she has been a specific character

It says the black leotard and pink tights are required for ballet. She has convertibles but might get her a couple of normal spares in case of ladders and to save me washing them each day! For jazz it said a coloured Leo and coloured tights or all in one catsuit/ jazz pants. She has jazz pants they are black but have a small logo at the top of one if the legs. Her Leo is a navy RAD one Then it asks for a hoody and trainers for street dance. She has a pineapple one but it's bright turquoise or a black school PE one. She's not really a hoody girl!

It says the black leotard and pink tights are required for ballet. She has convertibles but might get her a couple of normal spares in case of ladders and to save me washing them each day! For jazz it said a coloured Leo and coloured tights or all in one catsuit/ jazz pants. She has jazz pants they are black but have a small logo at the top of one if the legs. Her Leo is a navy RAD one Then it asks for a hoody and trainers for street dance.

It's Hammond

For jazz it says coloured leotard and tights. . What is meant by coloured tights?We have stripy ones or capezio flesh coloured ones orblack footless tights. Also would a navy Leo do. It also says or all in one catsuit. We don't have one of those but dd has a bright orange shimmery shirt unitard from a previous dance show. She has a black Leo and pink ballet tights also required

We too are encouraged to send in certificates for the children to be presented with in assembly. Dd's school run their own ballet, tap & modern classes (half an hour once a week low grades only) Speech & drama exams and music exams and those children get their certificates presented to them so why not those who participate in stuff externally. The school speech & drama teacher entered the pupils for a local festival, I entered dd privately and one year she won her class so why not allow her to be recognised too. Ds takes in his taekwondo certificates. It has taken years to find something he enjoys doing and has confidence in. The school is very into recognising achievments.

We can't afford boarding and there are other factors too. Hammond is commutable

I did speak to them last week but they were a bit on the fence though I didn't manage to speak to the lady called Janet as other parents were talking to her. It was suggested that if successful for drama she should look for a local dance school to continue her dance elsewhere

Their dance course looks pretty much what dd wants in a school but I'm not sure if she is good enough. Her ideal school would be Sylvia Young or Italia Conti but money and distance means that's never going to happen. She was thinking of auditioning for the drama course at Hammond but we are all concerned that 1 hour of dance per week which is what they get is going to seriously put her behind if she goes for MT at 16 or 18. She currently does ballet tap modern and jazz but isn't JA calibre or anything. She loved the place on her visit and felt she would be at home there. However she already has access to a very good local dance school, top notch singing tuition and good drama classes but I've done the sums and vocational school would actually be cheaper for us by the time we account for all her dance and school fees. Is it worth applying for both dance and drama as a fallback option maybe?

My dh teaches and has taught on musical theatre course sat a couple if the big MT colleges so I have some knowledge here. It does depend on the show but very often the first call is a voice audition rather than dance. Triple threat is emphasised a lot more now in colleges that used to be more known for dance and voice and drama training is increasing. However it can be picked up later and indeed my dh won't do individual voice lessons with children. A lot of colleges are using Estill Voice Training methods which is very technical and teaches students exactly how to create certain voice qualities for different types of MT. He finds dancers work well with this method as they are used to knowing how things work with their bodies And which muscles do what. At the children's theatre classes that I run we have just taken on a new teacher who trained at Hammond and did the cruise ships for 10 years. When she started they employed separate dancers and singers. Now they have cut the number of singers and they expect most of their dancers to sing.